Meredith Vieira’s First Day on the Job
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Daytime, Talk Shows, NBC, HDTV, Internet, News,
Meredith Vieira woke up a little earlier than usual this morning to start her new gig on the Today show. While I was only able to catch about a half hour of the program, I’d say she’s off to a great start; Internet reviews agree, saying that Vieira had a solid debut. She seemed at ease and comfortable in her surroundings. She’s by no means a newbie at this sort of thing, but she does have big high heels to fill following Katie Couric’s departure. Her rapport with the rest of the Today show gang, her ability to handle tough news, as well as interject levity and silliness when necessary, all bode well for Today and its ratings. She has pretty wide appeal and I’m sure saying things like she felt “like it’s the first day of school and I’m sitting next to the cutest guy” (referring to Matt Lauer) will make her a welcome morning addition.
Today also revealed its studio, all shiny and cool for their venture into high-def. Bright and modern, the colors and furniture are sure to “pop” for high-def viewers.
Read More 
| CNN
Gallery: Meredith Vieira’s First Day on the Job
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AOL Brings New Series a Week Early
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, NBC, Internet,
This afternoon, AOL offered Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip for viewing one week ahead of its television broadcast. Similarly, the comedy Twenty Good Years will go live on AOL on Wednesday, October 4th. AOL joined forces with Warner Bros. Television and NBC to offer an online sneak peak at each of these series. Studio 60 will continue to be available throughout the week, commercial-free. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip debuts on NBC on September 18th, while Twenty Good Years can be seen on October 11th.
“We’re pleased to be offering consumers the chance to view two of our most highly-anticipated shows ahead of their broadcast premiere,” said John Miller, Chief Marketing Officer, NBC Universal Television Group. “This partnership with AOL allows us to continue our aggressive online preview campaign and ensures an enormous number of users will have an opportunity to sample our product.”
Read More | Coming Soon
Gallery: AOL Brings New Series a Week Early
The Week Ahead in TV
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Comedy, Daytime, Music, Prime Time, Reality, Sports, ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Amazing Race, The, Dancing With The Stars, Desperate Housewives, Family Guy, Rock Star, Survivor, News,
Things are starting to kick into high-gear now with the introduction of three high-profile reality shows and the finales of several others:
SUNDAY
Sunday Night Football (7pm EST on NBC): TV sales will increase once women realize that football season will contend with Desperate Housewives.
FOX Comedies (starting @ 8pm): Those men not already watching football—and/or live on the West Coast—will have a line-up of father-oriented comedies to watch: The Simpsons, American Dad, Family Guy and The War at Home.
MONDAY
9/11 Anniversary (various): Most of the networks will choose to pay tribute on the 5-year anniversary. Other programming will most likely be interrupted by a scheduled Pres. Bush speech at 9pm EST.
TUESDAY
Big Brother (8pm on CBS): The finale between Mike Boogie and Erika. Sadly, someone has to be chosen the winner. Maybe they can just have each other.
Dancing with the Stars (8pm on ABC): The 2-hour debut of the ABC powerhouse. Am I the only one who believes that Mario Lopez still deserves some karmic embarrassment for cheating on Ali Landry before their wedding?
WEDNESDAY
Today Show (NBC): The debut of Meredith Vieira. I’m betting she’s happy to have a little more testosterone in her life.
Rock Star: Supernova (8pm on CBS): The winner will be announced. If Dilana doesn’t win, I’ll be boycotting CBS.
THURSDAY
Survivor: Cook Islands (8pm on CBS): My 24-hour boycott of CBS will have ended when I return to watch this controversial racial experiment. Being 1/2 Asian, 1/2 Hispanic…I’m not sure which team I will root for. I just know that if those two tribes merge, the other groups could be in a world of hurt.
SUNDAY (9/17)
The Amazing Race 10 (8:30pm on CBS): Twelve teams of two will depart from Seattle and travel around the world. Twelve teams of two will also be that much closer to Phil Keoghan than I will ever be.
Gallery: The Week Ahead in TV
Which New Series Will be Canceled?
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Drama, Prime Time, ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, UPN, WB, Cancellations, HDTV,
Website Brilliant But Cancelled is offering visitors the chance to vote on which new series they think will get the axe. Their contest, Death Watch Fall ‘06 offers weekly iPOD prizes and a grand prize of a 37 inch Aquos flatscreen HDTV. Hey, not too shabby, considering you probably have your own ideas about which shows will succeed or fail. Just log in each week and make your selection—each correct bet puts you into a drawing for the prizes. Place your bets now, since the contest starts today, September 8th and runs for nine weeks. Visit http://www.brilliantbutcancelled.com/deathwatch/ for more details. The odds change often, with 2:1 most likely to get the axe.
Read More | Brilliant But Cancelled
Gallery: Which New Series Will be Canceled?
Letterman Gets Four More Years
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Late Night, Talk Shows, CBS, NBC, Renewals,
David Letterman has reached an agreement with ABC that will keep the late-night host around for four more years. His contract extension keeps Dave on the Late Show through the 2009-2010 season. Interestingly enough, this is one year past the plan for Leno to step down from the Tonight Show and pass the torch to Conan O’Brien. According to Nielsen Media Research, Leno continues to be the ratings winner, averaging 5.71 million viewers nightly, versus 4.16 million per night for Letterman. The rivalry has been ongoing since Leno took over Johnny Carson’s post on the Tonight Show—and it looks like the competition will now continue against O’Brien. CBS Entertainment and Letterman spokespeople had no comment about the negotiations since the deal is not official yet. Even after all these years, I still prefer Letterman to Leno—Leno is more corny than anything, but Letterman’s goofy persona wins me over. Goofy beats corny in my book any day, but what to do when Letterman and O’Brien go head to head? Two goofs—don’t make me choose!
Read More | Yahoo! News
Gallery: Letterman Gets Four More Years
Scrubs Comes to Comedy Central
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Cable, NBC, Syndication, Scrubs, Cable/Satellite,
Great news for Scrubs fans everywhere—Comedy Central has acquired the NBC sitcom and will begin airing old episodes of the series on September 18th at 7:00 p.m. The network will show the sitcom weeknights and Saturday mornings. David Bernath, senior vice president of Comedy Central said, “We’re thrilled to have Scrubs join the network. It is a very funny show with a great cast. Not many off-network sitcoms fit our brand and this one fits perfectly.”
If you’ve never seen the series, now’s your time to jump on the bandwagon of one of the funniest little shows out there. Follow J.D. (Zach Braff) and the gang (including John C. McGinley, Sarah Chalke, and Donald Faison) as they experience love, loss, humiliation (and more) at the hospital where they work. The ensemble cast is fantastic; the stories funny, but often touching. Overall, a nice mix of drama and comedy.
Read More | Comedy Central
Gallery: Scrubs Comes to Comedy Central
FOX Adds Primetime Game Show to Roster
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Games, Prime Time, ABC, FOX, NBC,
Not one to miss out on the game show mania, a la Deal or No Deal (NBC) and upcoming 1 vs. 100 (NBC) and Set for Life (ABC), FOX will now be offering their own primetime game show to the mix. The Rich List will debut later this season, produced by the British company that brought you The Weakest Link (ugh!) and Dog Eat Dog (double ugh!). The show will challenge teams of strangers by having them complete lists of topics, from trivia to textbook topics. To add to the excitement, the teams will wager on how many answers they expect they can provide—highest bid gets to complete the list. And of course, if they don’t make their estimated number, the other team goes on to face another team. According to Mike Darnell, head of alternative programming at FOX, “This is a truly original concept, unlike anything else currently on air, which promises to be exciting and addictive viewing.” Don’t expect any famous American talent to host the show, as British morning show host Eamonn Holmes will helm The Rich List.
Read More | Zap2it
Gallery: FOX Adds Primetime Game Show to Roster
Trump to Carolyn: “You’re Fired”
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Prime Time, Reality, NBC, Apprentice, The - Donald,
The man behind the Trump clothing line, Trump fragrance, Visa check card commercials and Days Of Our Lives cameos has just fired his right-hand woman for ‘excessive self-promotion’. If that’s not irony, I don’t know what is. Carolyn Kepcher, who along with George sat beside Donald for five seasons of The Apprentice, has been let go from the Trump organization. Kepcher had been Chief Operating Officer for two of Trump’s golf courses. Its been said that her frequent speaking engagements and her recent book (“Carolyn 101”) contributed to her suffering work performance. But taping episodes of The Apprentice and following dimwits around didn’t?
For those who are still actually watching the show—there are fewer and fewer of you left these days—you will not be missing Kepcher during the 6th season. That’s because she wasn’t in the show to begin with. The new season, premiering in January, will feature the Trump clan once again. I wonder if Donald just likes looking at his own daughter more.
Well - if nothing else, getting rid of Carolyn gives the new apprentice two more golf positions to choose from…
Read More | CNN Money
Gallery: Trump to Carolyn: “You’re Fired”
From the folks behind MTV’s Punk’d (okay, that would be Ashton Kutcher’s production company), comes the upcoming reality show based on the characters from the film Wedding Crashers. Working with NBC, Kutcher’s company, Katalyst Films, and New Line TV have created The Real Wedding Crashers, a hidden-camera series that sends a group of improv actors to crash wedding receptions. Craig Plestis, head of alternative programming at NBC says of the series, “Everyone loved ‘Wedding Crashers,’ and we wanted to see if we could capture that same kind of inspired frivolity in a real-life series. Working with Ashton and knowing his memorable experiences with the jokes he pulled off on ‘Punk’d’ made it that much more enticing. This series has a big upside potential for hidden-camera humor.” So far, no word on when the series will air.
Read More | Zap2it
Gallery: Wedding Crashers Reality Show Coming Soon to NBC
OK, so Eric McCormack has declared that he’s done with sitcoms. And how long should we expect that to last? He’s come off the wildly successful Will & Grace, but I don’t think he should be calling it quits on sitcoms all-together. If he really feels that way, perhaps it’s better to keep it to himself rather than prematurely announcing it to the world. True, McCormack has seen much success on the stage, and it’s likely he’ll go that route for awhile, but I wouldn’t discount the fact that he could return to a small screen comedy yet again. McCormack broke the news at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, saying he would likely return to the small screen, but “probably not in a sitcom, because I don’t think I can follow Will & Grace as an experience for me.” He went on to say that “the experience day-to-day was about as perfect as you can get.” Perhaps this is just an attempt to thwart any Seinfeld curses—steering clear of the sitcom genre for a brief time. We’ll see, Mr. McCormack.
Read More | Yahoo! News
Gallery: Eric McCormack—Done with Sitcoms?
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